ALBANY — The state senator behind a bill to build a dorm for lawmakers in the capital, which he claims would save taxpayers money, racked up $127,481 in lodging and food per diems during his six-year tenure in the Assembly — including more than $31,000 while the Legislature was not even in session, according to state records.
Sen. Phil Boyle (R-LI) collected the per diems all while owning a home in the village of Delmar — which is just under five miles from the Capitol building.
Records show Boyle bought the house in November 2006 and sold it in December 2012 after his election to the Senate. During the time Boyle owned the home, he collected $117,997 in per diems.
“Those are eye-popping numbers,” said Blair Horner of the good-government group NYPIRG.
Boyle, of Bay Shore, was eligible to claim the $172-per-day stipend as long as he was in Albany for business, Horner says.
But he is the same legislator who sponsored a bill to eliminate the lodging portion of the per diems by constructing a dorm for lawmakers to stay in while working in Albany.
Boyle claimed he collected the money because he frequently came to Albany to attend seminars at the Rockefeller Institute and spent time in his Albany office going through “stacks of mail.”
“You’re doing a lot of work yourself,” Boyle said in his defense, noting that he had only two staff members while in the Assembly minority.
Records from the Albany County Clerk’s Office show Boyle and his wife bought their Delmar home Nov. 27, 2006 — a time when the Legislature was not in session.
Boyle submitted a per-diem bill in the amount of $1,416 on Dec. 1 — one day after he closed on the house.
He went on to collect a total of $31,695 in per diems during nonsession times over the course of his six years in the Assembly.
“It [per diems] is not going to pay for the house; it is going for the time you’re in Albany,” Boyle said.